Saturday, November 14, 2009

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (sometimes abbreviated as Terminator: TSCC) is an American science fiction television series that aired on Fox. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Television and C2 Pictures. It is a spin-off from the Terminator series of films. It revolves around the lives of the fictional characters Sarah and John Connor, following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The series premiered on Sunday, January 13, 2008, on the U.S. television network Fox. Production for the series was provided by Terminator 2 and Terminator 3 producers and C2 Pictures co-presidents, Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, C2 Senior Vice President James Middleton, David Nutter, and Josh Friedman, who not only served as Executive Producer but also wrote the script

The show opened mid-season with a shortened run of nine episodes, January through March 2008. It was the highest-rated new scripted series of the 2007-08 television season and was renewed for a second season, which began on September 8, 2008, and ended April 10, 2009. On May 18, 2009, despite fan efforts, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced Fox would not renew the show for a third season. Bear McCreary said "At the last spotting session, I begged Josh Friedman for the answers to these questions, and he told me enough that I know season 3 would have been our best." Josh Friedman said "Good shows are cancelled every year; smart shows, worthy shows...." There are still several fan campaigns being held in order to "save" the show. The most notable of these is t

Plot

Back story

Main articles: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

At the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor, her son John and the 800 Series Terminator successfully destroy the T-1000, as well as the arm and computer chip from the first film's Terminator. The T-800 from the second film, at its own request, is then also destroyed in order to eliminate any future technology that could be used to create Skynet. In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, it is revealed that Sarah subsequently dies of cancer and that Judgment Day has not been averted but merely delayed. At the beginning of the television series, Cromartie, a T-888 is sent back to the time following Terminator 2: Judgment Day, to kill John. Cameron, a Terminator that John sent back from 2027 to protect his earlier self, leaps forward in time with John and Sarah to 2007 jumping over the year in which Sarah would have died. Thus history changes and from John and Sarah's perspective events now occur differently from those that occurred in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now wanted fugitives with the fear of pending cancer playing on Sarah's mind, they must also face the reality that other enemies from the future could be after them

Summary

See also: List of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles episodes

The pilot episode is set in 1999 and introduces Sarah, her son John, and Cameron, a Terminator that has been re-programmed to protect John. They are being pursued by a Terminator (Cromartie) sent back through time to assassinate John and also by FBI Special Agent James Ellison, who believes Sarah is an insane criminal (based on the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day).[10][11] Sarah is romantically involved with a paramedic named Charley Dixon, but ends her relationship with him to stay on the run. During the pilot, Sarah, John, and Cameron make a temporal leap to the year 2007. Cromartie suffers extensive damage while trying to kill them, begins repairs to his endoskeleton and artificial flesh, and continues his search for John in 2007. Because John is frustrated with their life of running, Sarah resolves to go on the offensive against Skynet. But the world in 2007 proves complex: they find Skynet has sent additional Terminators back in time to support its own creation, and the resistance movement has sent back its own fighters to interfere. As they seek out an intuitive chess computer called The Turk, which they suspect may be a precursor to Skynet, they forge an alliance with Derek Reese, resistance fighter and John's uncle. As the series progresses, the Connors are confronted with the reality that they would find more enemies, either at the present or from the future, bent to reshape the future for their own goals